Conversations and Expectations
by Aria6
Summary: A one shot fic, from when X was a rookie and Zero was his commander, as they discuss something important. Shounenai, XZero Now yaoi, new chapter!
1. Chapter 1

Note: I now have a Live Journal! Under the name AriaDream! Go check it out when you have time. XD

* * *

"Shit," Zero sighed, leaning back in his chair and idly twirling a pen. "Why, Vishnu? Why did you have to die?" If anyone in HQ had heard Zero's lament, they would have been stunned. It was well known that the deceased Hunter and Zero hadn't been friends. In fact, they'd barely gotten along on any level.

But seeing the paperwork, and reflecting on the weeks events, they might have understood. Vishnu had been the best rookie trainer in the HQ. If Zero'd had his way, he would have been doing that every day of his life, since teaching skills didn't necessarily translate into outstanding combat skills. Vishnu had been okay, but… when the unit had been called out last time, he'd taken a plasma bolt to the head. That had taken out the best rookie teacher besides… Zero.

Teaching rookies was a duty Zero hated, although he had a record of bringing them up to specs faster than almost anyone. So with admirable logic and a fine disregard for Zero's feelings, Sigma had put Zero in charge of the current rookie class. It was enough to strain the brain.

Part of what Zero hated was that he had to be so _sensitive._ Not all the time, oh no, sometimes what a rookie needed was a good kick in the pants. But when you had some poor kid suffering through homesickness, a boot just made things worse. Or a "dear Jane" or "dear John" letter… now those required sensitivity, to make sure the rookie recovered well and didn't commit passive suicide in the field. Some problems he could fob off on Dominick, the HQ Chaplain. But he was busy just with the Hunters, so Zero usually had to handle the recruits' problems himself. Vishnu had actually liked this sort of thing, and Zero desperately wished the bastard hadn't been so inconsiderate, dying in battle like that.

Zero sighed, and finally shoved himself up from his desk, stepping out into the hallway. The paperwork wasn't done, but he was damned if he was going to sign his life away. He'd get back to it later. Now, there were better things to do, like go to his room, eat a quiet meal and read a book for an hour or two. The rookies had the day off, and everything was quiet, so besides paperwork his schedule was pretty flexible. It was time for some relaxation, before he tackled the papers again. Everything would be just fine unless-

"Um… Commander? I was wondering if I could talk to you?" The tentative voice came from somewhere behind him, shoulder height. Zero was tempted not to turn around and just snap _No!_ but… if this was actually something important…

"Yeah, sure." Zero turned around to see a very familiar blue rookie standing in front of him, fidgeting. "Oh, hey X. What's up?" Zero's mood improved slightly. Of all the current crop of rookies, he liked X best. At least he wasn't a snot nosed brat like most of them… he was older than Zero, in fact. Although younger in terms of experience. He'd led a pretty sheltered life, in Cain's lab.

"Uh… nothing… could we talk in private?" X said with a blush. Zero almost sighed, wondering exactly what was wrong… from how embarrassed X seemed, it was probably personal. Was he suffering his first crush? But somehow, that didn't seem like X… he was pretty self-contained, especially with the other rookies.

"Sure, why not?" Zero said agreeably. He could probably eat while X was getting whatever was on his mind off it. "C'mon." He led X to his room, popping a pizza in the microwave as the blue rookie sat gingerly on the couch. Zero walked over and sat down beside him. "So, what's on your mind?"

"Well, I…" X fidgeted, indecision on his face. Zero leaned forward slightly, speaking coaxingly.

"Believe me, X, whatever it is I've heard worse." That surprised a giggle from X. "So just spill, okay?"

"Zero, I…" X took a deep breath… then leaned forward and planted a kiss straight on Zero's lips.

_Oh… crap._ Zero was completely immobile, not responding to the kiss… which was really a very clumsy kiss, X didn't know how to do this. That was the LAST thing he'd expected from X! Not that it came as a total shock, in a general sort of way. It wasn't the first time a rookie had decided he or she was in love with him. But X?

X drew away, blushing and looking into Zero's face… then winced, looking away as he registered the blank surprise on his Commander's face. "I… maybe I should go…" X started to get up, but was halted by Zero's hand on his arm.

"X, no… sit down, please." X looked very apprehensive, but slowly sat down. Zero was looking very serious… but then he smiled. "I'm not going to bite your head off. So calm down, okay?" X relaxed a little. "I think we need to have a long talk." Zero paused, regarding X for a moment. The little rookie was actually quite attractive, in a muncheable way. What Drake would have called a sweet muffin. Zero actually did find him attractive, which was unusual for a rookie… most of them reminded him of little puppies, and he didn't find that kind of innocence attractive at all. X was innocent, too, but it was a part of his personality, not the product of inexperience.

"Zero?" X said when the pause went on a bit too long, and Zero shook his head, pulling himself out of daydreams.

"Sorry, X. Look, there are three reasons we shouldn't kiss, or anything else. The first is that it's just against regulations." X looked puzzled at that. The Hunters were notorious for having lax regulations, compared to other military organizations. "Hunters are prohibited from dating or having sex with rookies. Sorry, X, but that's an important rule and right now I'm in charge of you guys. Any relationship would be totally unacceptable."

"Oh." X looked disappointed, but a trifle relieved… that at least wasn't a personal refusal. "I thought most Hunters just didn't… uh…"

"Didn't want to?" Zero supplied with a wry smile. "Most don't. It's too much like cradle robbing, but there's always someone who likes that sort of thing. That's why we have the rule." Zero patted X on the knee, then kept explaining. "Second, X, we've only known each other three months, and most of that time I've been yelling at you. Contrary to rumors, I do want to know who I'm sleeping with." X blushed at that. "And third… we are both guys."

"Uh…" X looked very puzzled at that. It was common knowledge that Zero had had at least one affair with… "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up…" X blinked as Zero snorted, waving away the display of sympathy.

"You think I'm still remembering Drake? That was a long time ago, X. He was okay and we got along great, but frankly, if he hadn't gotten killed we would probably have broken up anyway." Zero sighed. "Not to say I don't miss him, but it was a long time ago. That's not it." X was looking puzzled again, and Zero expanded on the problem. "You're going to be with the rookies for another three months, X, at least. Most of these kids are a year or two old and they still have the attitudes they were programmed with. I bet you at least a quarter of them, maybe closer to half, think homosexuality's wrong."

"What?" X exclaimed. "That's not right!" Zero hid a grin. He always liked seeing how X got when his principles were offended. Most of the time, he was a bit like a cuddly bunny, but when something was going against his morals the fangs came out. It was like seeing a bunny abruptly turn into a saber-tooth tiger. "People don't ask to be born or made that way!"

"Yeah, I know, and most of the Hunters are down with it," Zero diverted X's anger smoothly. "But that's just how kids are. Give them a while and they'll get over it, but not yet. So… you might want to think hard about it, okay? If you like girls at all, you have a choice to make. And one of the choices is easier than the other two." X looked mutinous, and Zero shook his head. "It's just a fact, X."

"It doesn't matter," X said flatly, with conviction. "I feel that way about you." Zero lifted an eyebrow at the blue rookie, making him blush.

"Well, that's very flattering X," He said with a grin, making X blush even more. "And I do appreciate it. I think you're cute, too, by the way. But wait at least three months, okay? Nothing can happen until then."

"Yes, sir!" X said cheerfully, smiling. Zero hadn't rejected him, he'd only laid down a few ground rules… and he'd pretty much admitted he liked X too. It was almost perfect, from his perspective. "Well, sir, I'll let you eat… see you at practice!"

"Sure, see ya." Zero watched X walk out, practically floating. Then he sighed softly to himself. "He's such a cute kid. Ah, Drake… you would have liked him."

_Fin_


	2. Chapter 2

Note: This is edited to maintain the rating... although maybe I should up the rating... ah, whatever. Anyway, if you want the unedited version, e-mail me or tell me in a review and you shall recieve. Now, on with the show!

Zero sighed, pulling off his helmet and giving his head a vigorous scratching. He had been fighting all day and felt grubby, which translated into itchy. Zero tossed his helmet onto a sofa, then rooted around through the small pile of stuff in the break room, and found the item he had hid there… a long, thin bar of corrugated metal. It had originally come from one of the seats on the shuttles. He'd borrowed the idea from the mostly human 16th artillery unit, who liked to use them when they were in ride armor. The guy he'd talked to swore it was the world's greatest back scratcher, and after his first try, Zero had decided he was right. It was thin enough so that if he took off his helmet, he could just barely fit it into that space between the back of his neck and armor. Then, he carefully slid it down and rubbed the ridges against his back…

Zero sighed in sensual pleasure, wiggling slightly to get the rod all over his back. It just felt so _good_. Reploids didn't get itchy all the time the way humans did… a good thing, too, since they wore armor… but Zero still loved a good scratch at the end of a long, hard day. Like a back rub, only a do-it-yourself version.

"Um, Zero? What are you doing?" Zero paused as he heard a familiar, slightly tentative voice. Well, it was about time.

So far, X had killed off five of Sigma's generals while Zero had been scouting for Sigma's fortress and destroying Mavericks along the way. He'd come back to HQ twice to recharge, after following false leads. Both times, he'd missed X in the recharger. This time, he'd been determined not to and had stayed awake despite his exhaustion so he wouldn't.

"I'm scratching my back," Zero said with a grin, pulling out the metal rod and tossing it to X. X was looking a little battered around the edges and about as exhausted as he felt, so maybe he'd enjoy it. "Try it, it's great." X looked at the rod in his hand, then gave Zero a slightly peculiar look.

"Well, it sounds good, but… why not just take off your armor?" That stopped Zero, who tried to think of a good reason. He finally shrugged, unable to think of one.

"I dunno. Try it without the armor, then." X smiled shyly, and did that, running the metal over the back of his shirt. He blinked at the feeling, as Zero watched with a smile.

"You're right, sir… this is good." X said, and Zero nodded, dispelling his own armor. Under his armor, he was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt with the slogan "Hunters Rule, Mavericks Drool" across it in neon pink lettering. X was wearing jeans and a blue t-shirt.

"X, I wanted to talk to you about that conversation we had. You know, in my room." Zero said, deciding to attack the issue directly. X's eyes widened, and he winced slightly, dropping the rod back into the pile.

"Zero, sir… maybe now isn't a good time to talk about that." Zero arched an eyebrow, surprised. X sounded a little desperate. What had brought on this change? Was he afraid Zero was going to reject him? No, that didn't make any sense…

"On the contrary, X, I think it's a perfect time." Zero stepped forward smoothly, and X fidgeted, blushing lightly. "We're fighting constantly, we're about all the Hunters have left, and we could die shortly." Zero smiled at X, sliding an arm around his slender waist… then blinked as X suddenly hugged him, shivering. What was wrong? "X?"

"I'm… s-sorry, Zero. I just had a terrible dream about you last time I was in the recharger," X whispered. "That you d-died saving… me… like you saved me from Vile…" Zero was surprised by that revelation. Very few Reploids dreamed at all in the recharger… dreaming was for normal sleep. Zero was one of the few, but he'd had no idea X dreamed as well.

"X." Zero lifted X's chin, looking into his face. God, X looked so sweet like this, his green eyes wide and gleaming with held back tears. So… muncheable. "X, dreams come from our own minds, our own worries. All that means is that… you're worried for me."

"You really think so?" X said softly, blinking slowly. Zero smiled confidently.

"As opposed to you having a psychic premonition?" X managed a soft giggle at that. "Yeah. Somehow, I don't think you can see the future, X." X relaxed a little, leaning against Zero.

"You're probably right," he admitted. "But it frightened me, so I've been avoiding you…" Zero arched an eyebrow at that.

"Really? I thought it was just bad timing. But going back to that conversation we had… I think it's about time we did something about it." X was probably still a virgin, and one thing was for certain… Zero wasn't going to let him die one. For that matter, he wanted a bit of fun himself, if he was going to be facing Sigma soon. One thing Zero knew damned well was that people died. Seeing Drake die had killed any belief in immortality, for himself or anyone else.

"Something? What do you-mff!" Zero silenced X with a kiss. The blue hunter responded hesitantly, a bit awkwardly. Zero closed his eyes, and concentrated on showing X how to do it. X was a quick learner, and soon the kiss was rather good. They parted, and Zero smiled as he saw X's flushed face, his reddened lips. Zero grinned, and pulled X over to the couch, casually knocking his helmet off it before he pressed X down onto the warm material. The last thing they needed was something spiky. "Zero… right here? In the break room?" X shot a worried look at the door, and Zero shrugged.

"Why not? There aren't many people around to interrupt us." An unpleasant thought, but true… Sigma had decimated the Maverick Hunters when he left. Zero explored X's pale throat, nipping the soft skin and making the smaller Reploid under him moan. He reached up under X's shirt to explore his chest, and X squirmed, helping him pull the shirt away. Discarded, the blue fabric fell to the floor as Zero lowered his face to gently capture one of X's nipples. He swirled the nub of flesh with his tongue, making X gasp and press up. That reminded him… Zero looked up at X with a grin, and reached down to open his pants. Then he blinked as he felt something a little odd, and looked back down. X… didn't wear any underwear? Now there was a real surprise. He'd never asked X the boxers or briefs question, but somehow, he couldn't picture 'neither' as the answer.

CENSORED

X blinked lazily as Zero pulled away, letting go of him. That had felt… wow. He had touched himself before, but it hadn't felt half as good as this. And now he felt so tired, so sleepy… it had been a long, exhausting day even before this. X tried to keep his eyes open, but the effort only made his head spin. Maybe if he closed them for just a moment…

"X?" Zero frowned as he looked into X's face. His eyes were closed, his face was slack, and… "Aw, X, don't be asleep." No good. It looked like X had spent the last of energy and gone out like a light. Zero grimaced to himself, remembering a few times similar embarrassing things had happened with Drake. One had been even worse, from the perspective of mutual mortification. Everyone knew about the past love affair for a reason.

Zero considered X's limp body for a long moment, trying to decide what to do. He had two options… be a nice guy, put X in the recharger and deal with his own frustration. Or… he could dry hump X, basically masturbate over him. Zero considered it, then shook his head with a sigh. That would actually be fun, in a kinky way, but he wasn't sure yet if X could stand kinky. X looked so sweet, passed out like that, that it was hard to resist. But he didn't want to kill the relationship.

"Okay, nice guy it is." Zero zipped X back up, and the other Reploid didn't even stir. He must have been even more tired than he looked, when he came in. "I can see why they say nice guys finish last…" He lifted his unconscious lover up, and carried him out of the break room, down to his own room. There weren't many Hunters in the halls, but there were a few, and Zero ignored the strange looks they were attracting.

Once he got into X's room, Zero looked around curiously. X had never invited him over before… and Zero suddenly had an idea why. The kid was messy. Really, really messy. Were that an end table or stacked up pizza boxes? Huh. "Maybe we should never share a room," he told X, who only started to snore. "I'm no neat freak, but you're taking this to extremes." Kicking away some dirty clothes, Zero set X down into his recharger, and keyed the activation sequence. The cover slid down with a soft hiss, and Zero watched X through the glass for a long moment. X looked so relaxed, so peaceful when he slept. Zero finally smiled, and rested a hand against the glass. "Someday, X, I'm going to get you for this." Zero grinned, and started planning his revenge, taking comfort in one thought.

If Drake could see them now, he'd be laughing his head off.


	3. Chapter 3

"GodDAMN it." Zero snarled, trying to break free of the cage Vile had caught him in.

The whole thing had been so _stupid._ A booby-trap, and like a booby, he'd stepped right into it. Now he was cooped up like a canary in a birdcage, waiting for Vile to use him against X. Even if X won and saved him, he was never living this one down.

_That's what happens when you let emotions overrule your brain. We should've gone in together._ Zero gritted his teeth, realizing that he had done this to protect X. He'd justified it by remembering how X had gotten trashed the first time, but that was then and this was now. He shouldn't have…

X skidded to a halt in front of Vile, and Zero saw the despairing look on his face as Vile tried to use him as a hostage. _Oh, no fucking way!_

"X, don't listen to him! Shoot him!" Zero squirmed, eyes narrowing as he felt something creak. Maybe he could get out of here if he tried long enough…

Zero tried to ignore the battle, as he fought to break his cage. He was getting there, definitely getting there… a scream jerked his head up, and rage snapped through Zero's mind as he saw X, caught by Vile a second time.

"NO!" The cage shattered, and he leapt forward, landing on the back of the ride armor. "It's not X you should worry about… it's me!" Zero charged his buster, then overcharged it… it was the one thing, the only thing that had a hope of destroying the armor completely.

Of course, what it would do to Reploid flesh at that range… flesh it was attached to…

Zero wasn't conscious of pain, only pressure, when the explosion enveloped him and tossed him away. That… wasn't good. The last time he hadn't felt anything, he'd come close to dying. Even hitting the ground didn't really hurt.

Zero managed to turn his head, and watch X kick the crap out of Vile. It was a pleasure to see. A small smile crossed his face. _The kid's grown up._ _Oh… ow._ Now he was feeling something, and he wished that numbness had held on. _But I can't feel my legs… or my arms… or anything really… crap._ All he was feeling was a slowly spreading agony…

"Zero…" Zero vaguely heard X's voice, fogged with tears, and felt it as he was lifted and hugged. "Hang on, I'll take you back to the HQ and Cain will fix you up."

"X, don't be silly." Zero murmured, and was a little surprised by how… normal his voice sounded. Breathy, but still normal, for now anyway. "The teleport jamming is up and you can't let Sigma get away… right now, I'm sure you can… stop Sigma." Zero drew a shuddering breath. His eyesight was starting to fade around the edges… there wasn't much time. "X… if you… do something stupid… like blaming yourself… I swear I'm… coming back… to haunt you…" Something wet fell on his face. Oh… tears? X was crying? It was all so frustrating. He wanted to take X in his arms, wipe those tears away. "X… go now. Stop Sigma… for me, for everyone…" More tears, but then Zero felt X gently set him down. Good. There wasn't much time.

Zero lingered in a hazy place for a while, after X had left. His eyesight turned cloudy, registering nothing but fields of light and darkness. His generator and auto-repair systems were struggling to stay online and deal with the damage, but they were gradually failing, and non-essential systems like sight and hearing were on the fritz.

"Hn…?" The inquiring sound came out as nothing but a sigh. He thought he had seen a change in the colors surrounding him. And a sense of movement, or was he imagining things? It was so hard to be sure. But no, he couldn't be imagining it. His ears were picking up voices, when they were working.

"X… Hunter… repairable… control…" Zero didn't recognize the voices, but it seemed they were discussing him. Were they Mavericks? Hunters? Did it really matter? It wasn't like he could do anything to stop them.

He felt himself being lifted again, but this time in huge hands. They were gentle, and it was really rather comfortable… Zero's eyesight shut down entirely, then his hearing, and he was eased gently into a quiet darkness…

* * *

"You're not Zero," X said to the dark copy of his best friend and lover. The copy grinned, the same cocky grin he was intimately familiar with, and X repressed a shudder. Except for the dark armor, he was so much like Zero, it hurt…

The memories of Zero's death were still fresh and painful. Zero had sacrificed himself to save X, and he still felt horribly guilty about it. Although Zero's last words had helped, a little.

_X… If you do something stupid… Like blaming yourself… I swear… I'm haunting you…_

_…Zero…_

X reminded himself of that, reminded himself that Zero hadn't blamed him… but it didn't stop him from blaming himself. And made it so much harder to face this dark copy of Zero.

"Ah, true, but I know what was in his mind," the dark copy said in a voice that was smoother, darker than Zero usually used. X suppressed a shiver, and met the copy's bright blue eyes. "I know how he felt about you." X stiffened. There was no way for the Maverick to know that… but Zero's control chip didn't hold his memories. Those were in his data banks, and it was possible to copy those memories to a new, blank Reploid mind. The Mavericks had had Zero's body more than long enough to do that. It didn't copy Zero's personality and giving someone another's memories was totally unethical, but would they care? "And I know he doesn't love you."

"What?" X's breath suddenly caught in his throat at that cold, calm statement. "What do you mean?" He knew he couldn't trust this Maverick copy, it was probably nothing but lies… but he had to know what he meant by that. What the Maverick copy had deduced from Zero's memories. Dark Zero smiled slyly, confident that he had X's attention.

"You're only the latest in a long line, for him, and he doesn't care that much for you," he said smoothly, enjoying the impact his words were having on X. "The attention he gave you in the break room? He just didn't want you to die a virgin. It was a mercy fuck, X." X's eyes widened, and he shook his head violently.

"That's not true! Zero wouldn't have done that." But X couldn't stop a faint feeling of doubt. Zero had always been kind to him… well, except for yelling at him as a rookie… but had it just been… kindness? Nothing deeper?

"Oh really? He used you, X." Dark Zero smirked at X's expression of denial. "He used you while you were unconscious. Took his pleasure from you, when you couldn't resist." X hesitated. He'd felt really badly, when he woke up the next day and realized he'd fallen asleep on Zero. But surely he wouldn't have… "And he doesn't love you like he did Drake."

"What?" X's eyes widened at that comment. Zero had mentioned Drake a few times, in passing, and his tone had been full of fond remembrance. He even had a few pictures in his quarters, but he had pictures of a lot of people, usually with himself. X had just accepted it as something Zero did. But now that he thought about it, there were a LOT of pictures… "No, you're just trying to trick me, you and Sigma!" He knew Sigma was listening, and probably quietly laughing. X aimed his buster at the duplicate…

And blinked in astonishment as a blur of green light hit the copy, who exploded in a flash of light. Instead, there was a familiar form in red armor with long golden hair and laughing blue eyes.

"Sigma, you should have looked at the blueprints a bit closer!" Zero grinned at X, but X was still too confused and hurt to smile back. "There is only one Zero!" That line did make X smile… it was so completely… Zero.

"Wait, Zero!" Came Sigma's voice. "I know your secret… you were destined to follow me!" Zero's lip curled back in disgust, and he tossed his head with a snort.

"Maybe… but I still hate you."

"Fine!" Sigma's voice lowered to a growl. "If you won't follow me, I'll watch you die again."

"Zero?" X said questioningly, and Zero turned to him with a smile.

"Sorry to tune you out there, X, but the happy reunion is going to have to wait. We've got to destroy Sigma! I'll go take out the main computer while you go after him." X nodded as Zero dashed off without a glance back. He knew Zero was right… they had no time to waste.

He'd have to shelve his questions and doubts for later.

* * *

The sunrise was beautiful, turning the sky delicate shades of blue, gold, and giving the clouds a spectacular, pinkish tinge. X stared up at them, entranced, then looked down at the water. The glittering reflection was beautiful.

"Zero?" He suddenly said. "Do you think it will ever be over? Do you think we'll ever have Utopia…?"

"God, I hope not. I'd be arrested for assaulting nature." Zero replied absently, kneeling down to look for a good skipping stone. "Hey, X, how many times do you think I could skip this across the water?"

"Zero, please, I'm asking a serious question." It was a question that bothered him, and Zero's flippant dismissal of it irritated X. Zero glanced over, slightly surprised.

"Well, X, I don't really know. That depends what you mean by Utopia." Zero skipped the rock across the water, managing an impressive number of skips. "I don't really believe in Utopia, myself."

"What do you believe in?" X asked softly, watching Zero's beautiful hair gleam in the morning light, as he bent over to find another skipping stone. After his conversation with Dark Zero, he had realized that he didn't really know that much about Zero. No more than anyone in the Hunters did, anyway. Of course, they hadn't had much time together, what with the first war and then Zero's death, so maybe that was natural. Still…

"Hm?" Zero shrugged, and let fly with another rock. "I guess I believe in good enough. A world where there aren't too many wars and there isn't too much destruction. Not too many kids starve, not too many innocents die. Life isn't fair, so someone's always going to get the shaft. I just want a world where you can look at the odds and know you'll probably make it." Zero frowned as his next rock plunked into the water. "Not flat enough. Huh."

"That's… rather depressing." X found it a bit saddening, that Zero was willing to settle for that little… and had such a cynical view of the world. Zero tilted his head, glancing over at X with an impish smile.

"Oh, I don't think so. It's just realistic. Besides, a world without any conflict might be Utopia for you, but it'd be Hell for me." Zero's next rock made a good line of skips, almost fifteen. "Ah! Ye-es. Heh." X stared at the sunrise, as Zero continued his game with the rocks.

_Why don't you ask him about Drake? About what happened in the break room?_

_Because… I don't want to know._

_The Maverick was probably lying!_

_…Probably…I want to forget about it._

_Can you?_

_…_

"X, asking yourself questions out loud and answering them is considered by some to be the first sign of insanity." X started violently at Zero's amused voice. He had spoken out loud? He met Zero's bright blue eyes, but saw only amusement. Zero might have realized he was questioning himself, but he hadn't realized the questions involved him.

"Um… maybe we should go back to HQ and say hi to everyone." X blurted out, and Zero looked a little surprised, but nodded agreeably.

"Sure, why not? Just let me get rid of this." He let fly with one last rock. "Ha! Twenty two! New record. Note that down somewhere, X, it needs a trophy." Zero grinned, and gave X a gentle side hug. "Let's hit the road."

* * *

Zero drummed his fingers against the table, frowning.

Something was wrong. Actually, something had been wrong for months. He'd ignored it, hoping it would get better on its own, but by now he was sure that wasn't going to happen. Something was wrong with his relationship with X.

Zero liked to think of relationships as being like plants. You gave them water and fertilizer, and watched the way they grew. If you didn't like the shape of it, you could gently try to influence it, but if you were smart, you didn't prune it. Forceful measures could change a relationship, but if you had to resort to that, it wasn't worth saving in the first place. No, you watched the plant's growth, and if it just wasn't what you wanted it was time to junk it and go look for something better.

Zero was getting close to that time, and the hell of it was, he didn't know why. There was a subtle rot at work in his relationship with X, and while the plant that was their relationship looked superficially healthy, it was blighted. There was a distance between them. Not just an emotional distance, but a distance in actions and reactions as well. Zero could think of several concrete things that had changed. Before his death and revival, X had occasionally come to him with ideas for things they could do in their not-very-copious spare time. Now, Zero was coming up with all the ideas and X was going along passively. A lot of time, his enjoyment seemed rather forced, and when Zero had questioned him on it X just kept insisting everything was fine. That was frustrating, but it wasn't the worst.

The worst was the change in their lovemaking. Something cold and mechanical had crept into it. At first Zero had thought it was only boredom, although that was pretty startling… X had been a virgin not that long ago, so it was pretty soon to be bored of normal sex. So he'd tried to introduce X to a few new things, and it had turned out that X was emphatically NOT into anything kinky. If anything, Zero thought his attempts had made things worse. He was always initiating things in this area, too, but maybe that was just X's personality.

Adding everything up, Zero had come up with a few possible explanations for the changes. Maybe X was depressed. If that was it, though, why was X denying it? Zero would have been happy to help with any personal problems he was having. The second explanation he had was one that bothered him, and before things had changed, he would have thought it was laughable. But…

Zero's thoughts slid back to his past relationships. He'd only really had three, not counting X, and only one had involved infidelity. His love affair with a young Reploid girl named Demalise. He'd still been mourning Drake when he'd met her, and had tried to forget his pain in her arms. But Zero had learned that picking someone on the rebound was a sure way to pick wrong… he'd felt the same kind of coldness, the same 'going through the motions' in their lovemaking before she left him for another man.

Was X in love with someone else? Zero couldn't quite bring himself to believe that X was actually sleeping with someone else, but an emotional tie would be enough. He hated it, but he thought that was the likeliest explanation.

Zero grimaced, and shook his head. He hated all this relationship analyzing. In his opinion, if a plant needed to constantly have its temperature taken and get fed special medicine to keep it healthy, it wasn't much of a plant. He wanted his relationships to just… be. His relationship with Drake had been fierce but uncomplicated, and the one he'd had with Belinda less fierce, but almost as simple.

Analysis or no analysis, though, he had to decide what to do. If he wanted to drop it, the simplest thing to do would just be to stop asking X out, stop getting him to come over for the night. Without Zero's efforts, the relationship would promptly wither. If X let it go, that would say a lot about where his commitments were going. If X didn't let it go, if he actually came to Zero to find out what was wrong… maybe he could finally get some answers out of him about what was going on.

Zero sighed, and stood up. He walked over to his recharger, and frowned at the faint grinding sound it made as it opened. It had been repaired just last week… maybe it just needed to be replaced. He made a note to discuss that with the maintenance crew. Recharger malfunctions weren't fatal, but they weren't all beer and skittles either. It still looked functional enough, though, so he shrugged and stepped inside…

* * *

_The light around him was strange, blueish green and coming from no recognizable source. Zero frowned, glancing around. He was in a metal passageway, with walls of polished metal that reflected the light oddly. It was difficult to focus, difficult to get his bearings._

_"This is a dream." Zero stated, hearing his voice echo oddly. "Huh." It wasn't like any of the other dreams he'd had. Dreams of blood and death, dreams of a strange old man. No, this dream had to have come from his own mind and imagination._

_Zero slowly walked through the passageways, trying to decide where he was. A fortress, like Sigma's? A spaceship? Who could tell? It seemed to be endless._

_A flash of movement caught Zero's attention, and he halted, trying to determine where it had come from. The reflections made it so hard to tell… There! This time he got a much better look._

_"X?" Zero hesitated, then jogged after the vague apparition he had spotted. Even though this was a dream, and he knew it, he still urgently wanted to find X. He wasn't sure why, but he had a definite feeling it was important._

_At first, Zero was frustrated, as he saw no more movement. But then something else caught his attention… smears of blood on the ground. X was hurt? But he could use that blood to track him, and Zero began following the blood trail. The trail grew, becoming thick and sloppy, but Zero was curiously unworried. This was, after all, nothing but a dream. Yet, he still urgently wanted to find X._

_The light seemed to brighten, and X was there. Zero gasped as X turned to look at him… he was horribly mangled. It looked like someone had beaten him half to death, then used a vibro knife on him for fun. Zero could imagine where this image was coming from… he'd seen this kind of damage before, on the bodies of Hunters who had been captured by the Mavericks. But the look on X's face was so cold, so dead, so… wrong. His eyes, as he looked at Zero, were like broken green glass. That look on his face made Zero's heart clench. It was a nightmare vision of how X might look if the Mavericks caught him… and broke him. Zero dashed towards X… and was utterly shocked when his feet suddenly touched nothing but air._

_There was nothing to grasp, no way to save himself from the fall. He tried to twist, orient himself, but before he could his head hit some kind of outcropping, hard enough that he heard the sound of metal shattering. That hurt, but the landing at the bottom of the shaft was worse. Out of control and partially paralyzed, he landed on his back on a piece of jagged metal. It punctured his unarmored body easily, and Zero gagged as blood welled up in his throat. The pain was sharp, agonizing, and Zero's mind was whirling. Why hadn't he woken up? He'd had dreams of falling before, but they always shocked him awake when he landed…Zero shuddered, trying to push himself up, but he couldn't move. He gasped, eyes starting to glaze over from the pain, shock and blood loss… then he saw something strange above him. X was looking down at him, his expression still completely blank. Watching him die._

_"…X…"_

* * *

"Nnngh." Zero coughed violently, his knees almost giving way as he clung to the side of the recharger. If he'd had the energy, he would have smashed it.

That horrible dream had only been the start of something akin to slow torture. He had dreamed constantly, all night, and it had seemed like it would never end. The memories had perhaps been the worst part. Re-living Drake's death had been no picnic, although the dream about X was a close second on the 'this totally sucks' list.

Worst of all, from Zero's perspective, was the fact that he hadn't been recharged at all. In fact, his energy had been drained. He felt so weak, he could hardly stand.

"If I find the techs who fixed this fucking thing last time, I'm killing them." Zero muttered, and managed to stagger over to his bed. He collapsed into it with a groan, closing his eyes… he was supposed to be working, patrols, dealing with his unit, but he just couldn't. He couldn't even make it to the wall communicator. Hopefully, someone would get worried and check up on him… Zero fell into an uncomfortable sleep, as his systems tried to regain their energy.

This time, at least, he didn't dream.


End file.
